Debbie Dingell to announce run for husband's U.S. House seat

7:03 PM, February 25, 2014

Debbie Dingell fields questions from reporters asking if she'll run to replace her husband after United States Representative John Dingell addressed his retirement from being the longest serving member of congress at the Southern Wayne County Regional Chamber at Crystal Gardens in Southgate on Monday February 24, 2014. / Ryan Garza / Detroit Free Press

Deborah (Debbie) Dingell

Age: 60 Hometown: Dearborn Political experience: Wayne State University Board of Governors; Democratic National Committeewoman; manager of Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign in Michigan. Professional experience: Former vice chairman of the General Motors Foundation and executive director of government and community relations at GM; chairwoman of the manufacturing initiative of the American Automotive Policy Council. Personal: Granddaughter of one of the Fisher Body brothers; wife of U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., since 1981. Education: Bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Georgetown University.

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LANSING — A Dingell has represented a chunk of southeast Michigan continuously for 80 years, and if Debbie Dingell has her way in November, that streak will continue for at least two more years.

Debbie Dingell will announce on Friday that she will run for the congressional seat her husband — U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich. — will relinquish at the end of this year after serving for 58 years.

A source close to Debbie Dingell said Tuesday that she will make the announcement Friday somewhere in the district, which covers western Wayne and Washtenaw counties.

John Dingell did nothing to tamp down that speculation about his wife, saying that if she ran, he would vote for her, and that she would make a “hell of a congressman.” Political observers put her at the top of the list of likely successors to John Dingell.

John Dingell got a shout-out in person from President Barack Obama Tuesday at an event to announce a new manufacturing institute in Canton. Dingell received a standing ovation and the president said, “We are better off because of John’s service.”

If she were successful, Debbie Dingell would become the third Dingell in a row to represent a portion of southeast Michigan in Congress. John Dingell’s length of service stretches back to a time before Alaska and Hawaii were states, when he won the seat after his father served in Congress for 22 years.

Debbie Dingell, 60, is half of one of Washington’s most powerful political couples. She has been a member of the Democratic National Committee for years, is a member of the Wayne State University Board of Governors and has held high-level positions with General Motors.

She will have about eight weeks to collect at least 1,000 valid signatures from voters in her district to qualify for the ballot.

It became clear that she would enter the race Monday evening when a Detroit Free Press reporter got an automated phone call poll asking about the race, testing Debbie Dingell against possible Democratic challengers, including state Sen. Rebekah Warren, D-Ann Arbor, and Eugene Kang, who ran for Ann Arbor City Council and who now works in the Obama administration.

Warren said Tuesday she had nothing to do with the poll and hasn’t made up her mind yet if she will run for the seat.